Insurers Offer Concessions in Health-Care Overhaul

[babylonsister]

Insurers Offer Concessions in Health-Care Overhaul

By LAURA MECKLER and VANESSA FUHRMANS


The health-insurance industry said Tuesday that it would be willing to stop charging sick people more for their coverage if all Americans were required to buy insurance.

The proposal, included in a letter sent to Senate leaders by the industry's two main trade groups, is the latest move by health insurers to portray themselves as constructive participants, rather than obstacles, in the debate over how to overhaul the U.S. health-care system.

In casting themselves as willing to change much-maligned practices, such as setting premiums based on the health of the customer, insurance companies hope to prove that the private sector can fix problems on its own. Most urgently, the industry wants to head off momentum for a government-run health program to compete with private industry.

By offering concessions now, health insurers can maintain a seat at the table as legislation is being crafted in Congress, said Karen Ignagni, president of America's Health Insurance Plans, which joined with the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association to outline the policy change in a letter sent to several key Senators on Tuesday.

"We get a continued recognition that we're working very hard to solve the problems and demonstrating the private sector can work," Ms. Ignagni said in an interview.

The industry said last year that it was willing to offer coverage to all Americans, ending the practice of rejecting those who are already sick, as long as it was combined with a requirement that everyone get insurance. But the offer to also stop setting premiums based on illness is new.

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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123792957033830221.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

[DireStrike]

1. Fuck that.

Concede your existence, you worthless institutional tumors.

[MichiganVote]

2. Another financial branch of the American Gov't says bend over citizens...

[GiveMeFreedom]

3. HMO's are throwing bones at the public k&r

to see if we will act like dogs and start chewing this idea over. I don't think I want to chew on this at all. They need to become like dinosaurs, extinct in every possible way. They are why we have no national health care program and I am sick of this transfer of wealth to corporations that do nothing for anyone's health, other than their own monetary health. fuck em'

edited to K&R:kick:

[KittyWampus]

4. I'd be happy to pay for insurance, how's $10 a year.

[jtrockville]

5. Health insurance is a SCAM. We need to do away with it. PERIOD

[Stinky The Clown]

6. Insurers' Customer tells the nation's Insurers to Go Fuck Themselves

Bleh .....